Yesterday, news emerged of the death of Reservist Sergeant Major Eitan Ben Ami, 22, of Jerusalem, a combatant with the elite Maglan unit of the 89th Commando Brigade. He died during an operation in southern Lebanon while carrying out a combat mission with his comrades.
“Today in Israel” writes about this.
According to the preliminary investigation, the tragedy occurred due to the sudden collapse of a building through which a group of special forces was passing. The site had previously been damaged by IDF attacks in the area.
The military assessed that the building’s collapse may have been caused by severe weather conditions. The version of mining or enemy attack was ruled out, since no traces of external influence were found.
As a result of the incident, another soldier was injured, but was quickly evacuated and rescued.
Previously, “Cursor” wrote about how many IDF soldiers died during the war in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
Since the start of the war, 793 IDF soldiers have died. Among them, 370 people were killed during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip and 40 during the fighting in southern Lebanon.
These tragic events affected many families. 1,543 parents lost their children, 2,569 brothers and sisters were left without loved ones, 507 children were orphaned. Widows lost 180 spouses, of whom 27 are expecting a child. There were also 219 grieving partners. In total, the deaths of military personnel affected 1,126 families, of which 43 families lost more than one member.
Among the dead, 192 were officers, representing one in four total victims. This category includes 67 squadron commanders, 63 company commanders, 20 deputy company commanders, 7 deputy battalion commanders, 5 battalion commanders and 4 brigade commanders.
Regarding the categories of deaths, 48% were recruits, 18% were career military and 34% were reservists.
